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Quick Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds

Quick Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds is an amazing side dish, and this perfect broccoli recipe is low-carb, low-glycemic, South Beach Diet Phase One, gluten-free, vegan, and can easily be Paleo or Whole 30 if you use coconut aminos in place of the soy sauce.

I think anyone who's trying to follow some kind of healthier eating plan needs to have a good collection of vegetable side dishes in their recipe collection, and this Quick Roasted Broccoli with Soy Sauce and Sesame Seeds is a recipe I've been making for years. Like so many of my favorites from the early days of this blog, it had a photo that was pretty unremarkable, so when I made it recently I decided to give the recipe a photo makeover!

I love broccoli, and I think one reason broccoli is so popular (well, with most people) is that it tastes pretty good no matter how you prepare it. You can eat it raw, boil, steam, stir-fry, or roast it, and unless it's completely overcooked, broccoli will taste pretty good.

But even though a lot of cooking methods for broccoli will work, I think roasting broccoli concentrates the flavor in the best possible way. This batch of broccoli turned out so well that I ate nearly a pound of it and called it dinner. It was also so easy to make and so diet-friendly, I knew after one bite this recipe would be a hit with anyone who tried it. (And don't throw away those broccoli stems either!)

Broccoli will cook pretty quickly when it's roasted at 450 F, and I turned the broccoli pieces over after 10 minutes and the broccoli was perfectly tender-crisp and just starting to brown on the edges after exactly 15 minutes. Trust me, you WANT to make this version of roasted broccoli. And if you're already a roasted veggie fan, check out more roasted vegetable ideas after the recipe.

Trim and cut up enough broccoli to make one pound of bite-sized broccoli pieces. Whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce (or coconut aminos), and sesame oil, then put the broccoli pieces in a bowl and toss with that mixture. Spread broccoli out on a baking sheet that you've sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake in a pre-heated 450F/220C oven for 10 minutes. While the broccoli bakes, toast the sesame seeds for a minute or two, until they barely start to brown. After 10 minutes I took the pan of broccoli out of the oven and quickly turned the broccoli over, then put it back in the oven for 5 minutes more. It's done when the broccoli is starting to brown but is still slightly tender-crisp.

Arrange the broccoli on a serving plate and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve hot.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 450F/220C. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray. (Use the biggest one you have.)

Cut broccoli into pieces about 2 inches long. Then cut through stems just to where florets start, and break apart so broccoli is in same-sized pieces. (This method of cutting through the stems and then breaking the broccoli apart also eliminates the mess when you cut broccoli and small bits fall off.)

Whisk together the olive oil, soy sauce or coconut aminos, and sesame oil. Place broccoli in plastic mixing bowl and toss well that mixture. Arrange the broccoli in a single layer on baking sheet. I like to make sure any flat sides are touching the baking sheet for the best browing.

Roast 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir or turn broccoli pieces over and then continue roasting 5 minutes more, or until broccoli is tender-crisp and slightly browned on the edges. (The step of turning it over is only to get more even browning; you can roast it without turning if you prefer.)

While broccoli roasts, toast sesame seeds in a dry pan over very high heat for 30-60 seconds. When broccoli is done, arrange on serving dish and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve hot.

I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you. Or if you're a member of Yummly, you can use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information there.

And just for historical purposes, here's the previous photo from this recipe from back in 2008!

Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Oh, this looks absolutely delicious! I just took a photo of some squash that I roasted and was going to post about how roasting veggies makes them taste so much better, but I never thought of roasting broccoli!! I will be trying this as soon as I can get my hands on some. Thank you for the recipe.

We agree with you on the concentration of flavor you get when roasting broccoli. One of our most flavorful broccoli soups comes the roasting. Everyone thinks we use a TON of broccoli for the soup. Not! Your broccoli recipe looks great, especially with a hot bowl of rice on the side and an extra, hearty sprinkle of maggi seasoning!

This was great! I roasted some wild salmon along with the broccoli for about 12 minutes for a delicious, nutritious meal in minutes. I just discovered your site recently and love your healthy practical approach to cooking and eating.

I'm an Atkins person, who had to drop the dairy due to an intolerance, and I've just recently put a huge emphasis on making sure that most of my carbs are, in fact, coming from low-carb vegetables.

Your blog has made a huge difference - I've tried the grilled zucchini, the roasted broccoli with garlic, and now the roasted broccoli with soy sauce and toasted sesame seeds. Can't wait to try the roasted mushrooms with roasted red pepper (I'll do mine without the cheese).

You've got great marinades too, much more interesting than my old habit of gooping on store-bought blue cheese dressing onto things. I've made the rosemary marinade for the pork tenderloin, as well as the rosemary mustard marinade for the chicken.

I've mentioned your blog a few times to a few of my online low-carb friends - and they're all delighted with it!

Let us know when you come out with a cookbook ok?

Thanks so much for this wonderful blog. You have no idea what a difference it's made for me. The thing I like most about your blog is the emphasis on whole foods - there's not a bunch of recipes calling for strange sweeteners or oddball flour alternatives. Just normal food that anyone can get at the grocery store. Excellent!

Sara, thanks so much for the nice feedback. I appreciate it very much. No plans to write a cookbook at this point, but maybe I might think about it a year from now when I'm going to retire from teaching.

I made this roasted broccoli (with frozen broccoli) recipe last night, we gave the boyz a bite to try (since they usually spit out green food with great gusto -- our expectations were low). Those little bugggers ate 2nds and then 3rds. It was another hit...

I cut the broccoli up into individual florets attached to their long stems, and even used the thick stems (peeling off thick skin first, then cutting it into 1/2 in. thick pieces), and rinsed with cool water, and drained them. I laid them into the pan and sprinkled 1 tsp kosher salt, and 1 Tb raw sugar. Next, I drizzled 2 Tb peanut oil, 2 Tb soy sauce, 2 tsp sesame oil, and 1 clove garlic, minced, then tossed everything around to mix well. I cooked it in a preheated oven at 475 F for 10 min, then flipped them over, and cooked it for an additional 5 min. I sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, and ate this healthy dish all by itself. Thanks for the simple instructions. I made it even easier by preparing everything directly in the pan.

Nowadays I'm trying to eat more veggies and fruits, so I was looking for a recipe with broccoli when I came across to your blog.. I found this recipe and I made it yesterday, it was pretty nice.. And today I added mushrooms into the recipe and it got better =)) So thank you so much for a great healthy and quick recipe..

I'm so happy you're taking the time to comment on Kalyn's Kitchen! I love hearing from people who stop by, especially if you're sharing feedback or asking questions about a recipe I've posted here.

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